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Thursday, July 27, 2017

Top 5 text editors to ease web development

best text editors for web development

Learning HTML5 and CSS3 can be easy, but decorating all tags and attributes — let's face it, this is almost humanly impossible. Nothing like a good HTML5 and CSS3 editor to aid in the development of applications and styles. So here are the five of the best HTML5 and CSS3 editors to begin with web development.

Atom

Atom is a modern, affordable and hackable text editor from its core — a tool you can customise to do anything but also use it productively without ever touching a configuration file. Atom is one of the most widely used text editors in recent times for programming languages ​​like HTML5, CSS3 and PHP in addition to JavaScript.

Because of its out-of-box and full-featured editing support, Atom allows you to add packages with extensions to the most varied languages, auto-complete, shortcuts and code automation. Some of its features include native cross-platform thanks to its development through the Electron framework, built-in package manager, intelligent auto-complete and multiple panels.

Notepad ++

Notepad ++ is a free source code editor. It is easy to use, therefore ideal for beginners and at the same time highly powerful for more advanced users. It features syntax highlighting for various languages ​​including PHP, JavaScript, HTML and CSS.

Sublime Text

Sublime is a sophisticated text editor for code, markup and high-performance text. It is useful especially for individual files because it runs faster than the VS Code. Also, it offers a high level of customisation, almost never fails and includes cool plugins and packages like Origami and GitGutter that make development really fun.

You'll love the smooth UI, extraordinary features and incredible performance of Sublime Text that is widely used for HTML 5 and CSS 3 tagging. It is proprietary software with a sharp focus on features. Not only is it a great alternative to a powerful IDE, but the editor also lightweight and does the job with great efficiency and accuracy. There are also tons of features to tinker with that all will help you feel the power in your hands. However, like any tool, nothing is perfect.

Brackets

Brackets was founded by Adobe with the desire to establish a new standard for web publishers. According to what is written on the publisher's website, it is modern, open source and understands web projects. Brackets facilitates development by bringing information from a PSD file straight into the code — thus allowing you to write code much faster. The tool is available for Mac, Windows and Linux.

Considered as the substitute for gedit ( a text editor with graphical interface), Brackets is a text editor, very versatile, lightweight and can be easily crafted through the most diverse extensions available.

Aptana Studio

Another "heavyweight" between IDEs and old known to programmers is Aptana Studio. Today, it is very well-developed, and its extension through plugins extend its usefulness to various programming languages.

Among the editing support, this simple editor allows you to highlight your PHP, Python, Ruby, Rails, CSS, HTML, Ajax, JavaScript and C projects. It also allows monitoring of directories Project, web development wizard, debugging, FTP connection, Ajax libraries and support for Eclipse plug-ins.


Source: Top 5 text editors to ease web development

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Design for Web: Promotional Video. Benefits and Pitfalls.

A video is an effective marketing tool which never gets old. People got used to watching adverts on TV since the beginning of the past century. Now is an era of the Internet and a big part of the marketing and advertising is concentrated on the web. Internet users are in love with videos and joyfully spend hours watching them. Marketing community couldn't ignore such an opportunity and many companies already use a promotional video as a creative and effective way of product marketing. In this article, we'll dive deeper into details of custom promotional videos covering their essence and profitability.

What's a promotional video?

Don't want to sound obvious still there is no better explanation than to define a promo video as the one created to promote a company or its product. This type is made that way so it could encourage people to buy a certain product or use the services of a company. They are usually small catchy videos showing all facets of a promoted object in the best way to prove people it's worth of their time and money. Since promotional videos are popular and widely-used, everyone tries to find ways to make them original and creative. That's why designers offer businesses promo commercials created in different styles which stand out among thousands of the others because they are unique and catchy.

Types of promo video

Promo videos can serve many business purposes so there are different types each created to achieve certain objectives. For example, one of the most commonly used types is an introduction video. Its aim is to tell people about a business, its offers and reasons why someone should care about it. An intro promo video works best for startups willing to present themselves and interest their potential clients. This type needs to be informative still short and entertaining so that it could catch viewer's attention.

Next type having popularity among companies is a product presentation video. Many businesses are looking for creative ways to tell about their products and a custom promo video is a trending tool now. It can shortly present product features and tell about its value for users. Another type combines features of the two previous. These are landing page videos which aim at driving users to take expected actions such as purchasing or signing up. They usually are meant to present some unique offers which people can get by taking certain action like leaving contacts or else.

To gain people's trust, companies often share the testimonials from the satisfied clients on their websites. Video testimonials are an effective way to show that a company is trustworthy and can bring values. One more approach to product promoting is short entertaining videos. This type usually doesn't seem like promo because it isn't centered on a product or a company. They are meant to catch people on the emotional level by showing funny, heart-moving, or thoughtful video pieces having a short plot and a promoted product can appear as a secondary element. Quite often, if done and introduced originally, the videos of this sort get viral and present additional support to the brand.

All the types can serve as efficient marketing tools. However, a company needs to choose the type accurately according to business tasks which the video is meant to accomplish.

Product presentation video for Toonie Alarm Is a custom promo video profitable for businesses?

Custom promotional video creation requires time, money, and effort to spend, so obviously many companies are concerned with the question "What benefits will we receive from it?". Here is the answer.

People perceive video faster than copy. Psychological research shows that human brain processes video material much faster than text. It means that people need take more effort to read a copy about company's offers rather than watch a video. That's why, by placing a presentation promo video on a website, a company increases chances that more people will know about their product. Also, a quality video can accurately transfer the message which a company wants to tell to its possible customers.

Video increases conversion rates. Since people perceive video better than text, they are more likely to be influenced by it. It easier to gain users' trust when they are able to see how the product works in a real time. If people trust a company and are interested in their offers, they more willingly take an action such as signing up or trying a demo. What's more, a powerful promo video is an effective way to retain users longer rather than a great amount of copy.

Good search engine results. A major part of the Internet content consists of text data. Video content has less competition so the users searching keywords are more likely to find a video on the first page. To achieve even better results, a promo video needs to have well-thought SEO with the appropriate keywords in the headline, tags, description, etc.

Better social sharing. People are crazy about nice videos and the thing they like even more is sharing them with their friends. Videos are mobile and easy to share, the reason why it can be easily spread across social networks. Businesses should keep in mind that buyers are the best marketers they have, so it's vital to encourage users to share the links.

Video receives real-time feedback. Internet users like commenting videos and discussing it with the others. It allows a company to see what people say about them and their product. Analyzing the feedbacks, a company can make significant improvements.

Better branding recognition. If a company creates an interesting and original video, people are more likely to remember them. The thing is that video has the influence on the visual memory as well as the echoic one so the chances that users will recognize a brand increase twice compared to elements that are perceived only visually.

Creative video helps to stand out from the competition. Video marketing isn't a new approach, even more, it's been a top tool for decades. However, technology is evolving and so do approaches to video creation. Original and quality video can help a company stand out against competitors.

Promo video for PassFold project designed and animated by Tubik team Promo video pitfalls to consider

Certainly, there is no ideal approach to product marketing: considering video as a promo tool, you need to keep in mind possible pitfalls it may bring. First of all, the creation of a powerful commercial requires spending money and time. To make an effective video, professionals need to handle many processes: from scripting and recording to video and sound editing. Original video will need unique graphic material and high-quality animation, so if a company wants a quality video, it must be ready to invest in it.

In case a company decided to make a promo video, they need to make sure it's done right. Bad quality video can affect brand reputation almost as hard as a bad quality product. Also, promotional videos have to be useful and interesting otherwise the users may consider it as disrespect to their time which is also not the best thing for company or brand image.

One more thing you need to think about once you've applied a promo video is that not all people would like to spend their time watching it. It means that there must be another way for buyers how to learn about a product. It can be a short piece of copy which users could quickly scan and decide whether they're interested or not.

And, finally, we shouldn't forget about the technical side. High-quality videos can overload server of the website so it works slowly. When you include a video as a content element, it should be thoroughly tested on different devices and conditions. It helps to make sure there will be no technical problems that may make users frustrated.

Case Studies Opera custom promo video

In the end of 2016, Opera, a web browser developed by Opera Software, presented their promo video devoted to their achievements over the past year. It was a short animated video called «Opera 2016: Year in Review» with illustrations showing their acquirement. To make this project done, Opera Software collaborated with Tubik design team.

The main idea of this project was to create a positive and cheerful video presenting the fresh innovative features the company added in the web browser during the past year. It was agreed that the video must consist of illustrations accomplished in the 3D flat style and lush colors. Each illustration would present lifestyle object composition devoted to a specific month when a feature was delivered. The accent was made on the typography since Opera wanted to emphasize useful opportunities their users have now. That's why designers come up with the decision that animation of the elements should be minimalistic so that it couldn't distract users. Here is the result.

Check the detailed case study on Opera video Binned custom promo video

Another fresh project was accomplished recently by our team for Binned, a US-based service supporting cleaner and healthier environment for the local community by washing and deodorizing the trash bins outdoors. The style chosen for the video reflected the idea of a hand-drawn cartoon with a friendly and cute mascot. The next step meant creating a storyboard for the video showing the scenario scene by scene. In funny and friendly way, the short story showed the problems, which potential target audience could have, and the ways how Binned solves them easily. Here's what we got as a result.

Check the detailed case study on Binned video

All in all, videos have taken a big part in our life, the reason why we should take all the benefits from it. Stay tuned!

Recommended reading

Beginner's Guide to Online Video Marketing: Making a Video (Part 1)

How Ecommerce Businesses Can Generate Organic Traffic with Video Marketing

The Top 16 Video Marketing Statistics for 2016

27 Video Stats For 2017


Source: Design for Web: Promotional Video. Benefits and Pitfalls.

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

4 Winning Strategies for Hiring and Managing Your Web Development Team

In a mobile-driven economy, small businesses now increasingly see having a website as a necessity rather than an option. The number of small businesses without a website decreased from 46 percent in 2015 to 29 percent in 2016, the latest annual Clutch survey found. The market for web developers will increase 27 percent over the period between 2014 and 2024, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects.

As the need for web developers increases, companies face the challenge of how to find the right workers for their websites' team, as well as how to manage web development projects. Here are four strategies to help you with hiring and managing your web development team.

web development team

Write the Right Job Description

A successful talent search starts with a clear idea of what you need done to your site so that you can write an accurate job description, advises Website Builder Expert. Problems often begin with an inaccurate job description that attracts the wrong candidates.

Web designers and developers normally have different skill sets. Designers specialize in making a site look the way you want, and tend to have a better sense of site features such as layout, images and typography, with enough coding skills to get by but not necessarily enough to do custom coding for app integration, for example. Developers can customize the coding for your site to make it do what you want, but are not necessarily skilled at the aesthetics of site layouts. If you want a new site built on a standard template or if you want to improve your existing site's look and layout, you probably need a designer. If you want your site to include customized functionality not included in standard site templates, such as a custom image slider, you need a developer.

To write an effective job description that clarifies what you want, it's better to show than to simply tell. Create a design mock-up on paper or by using a simple wireframing tool. Find examples of sites you want to emulate. Describe what type of look you want and what you need your site to do. Set a deadline for when you need your project done.

strategies for hiring

Use Smart Screening Methods

To choose the right talent, it's important to evaluate candidates on both hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills for designers include knowledge of graphic design programs, such as Adobe Photoshop, as well as basic coding knowledge of languages used for design, such as HTML5, CSS3, PHP and jQuery. Developers should know all these languages in addition to languages used for adding site functionality, like JavaScript.

It's also important to evaluate soft skills and make sure candidates will fit with your business and team. Pay attention to how promptly they respond to emails and phone calls. Discuss your job description with them to see how well they understand what you want. Ask for samples of previous work and reviews or recommendations from previous clients. Check how much experience they have. If they seem like a good candidate, give them a paid test working on a limited part of your project.

Define Project Goals and Tasks

To manage your web development team, it's important to define specific deliverables and benchmarks that enable you to mark progress toward project goals, recommends Four Kitchens. Goals should be broken down into steps. For instance, if you need a website built, define specific benchmarks such as buying the domain, creating the development framework, completing the home page and so on. Delegate tasks to specific team members. Set deadlines for each task.

Use Good Communications Procedures

Keeping projects on track requires maintaining good communications procedures. Use project management software to provide supervisors and team members with an interface for monitoring project progress, communicating and sharing files. Schedule regular meetings to share updates, discuss progress, correct problems and plan next steps. To facilitate meetings between team members not located in the same area, use web conferencing software, which lets team members meet from anywhere on any device with clear HD video and audio. If you're building a site for a client, schedule regular meetings with the client as well.

jgeorge

I am a professional graphic designer and web designer with years of experience. I am also an illustrator and Wordpress theme creator and author of this design blog. I write tutorials and build custom websites. I do what I love, and I love what I do! You can: Follow Me on Twitter, Join Me on Facebook, & Or Follow James George on Google+


Source: 4 Winning Strategies for Hiring and Managing Your Web Development Team

Monday, July 24, 2017

10 Best Free Online Web Development Courses: Learn, Design, Earn!

This article is written by Henry Rise, the CEO of ThemeRex, Power Elite Author on Themeforest, with 140+ WP themes.

When newbies ask about the best places to learn code online, the correct answer is… it depends. It depends on many different factors.

Your background is important, what you want to get out of the experience, and what your end goals are, make different resources better or worse fit for you.

But what skills to learn? We suggest learning HTML and CSS first. You should also pick a programming language. Any programming language works, most people choose JavaScript, but we think Ruby is a better idea for a first programming language to learn. Don't overanalyze, just pick stuff and learn it. And have fun!

10 Best Free Online Web Development Courses

We don't necessarily suggest using all of these resources. Pick some of them and give them a whirl. Some you may love, others you may hate. Worst case scenario, you'll waste a bit of time and learn what doesn't work for you.

Launch School

Launch-School

This program isn't for everyone. That's why you can take their free prep courses and then make a decision. No matter your experience, you should start with the free prep courses, and get a feel for the format. If you are able to finish the prep courses and enjoy that experience, you may consider registering for paid courses. If you can't finish the prep courses or didn't enjoy the experience, then you probably shouldn't take the Launch School program.

In order to really understand any tool – Rails, Angular, React, etc – you have to start with the first principles. First, you have to learn basic problem solving with a programming language. Next, you have to learn the intricacies of that language. Then, you have to learn web development, which includes HTTP, front-end vs back-end, SQL, relational databases, etc. Finally, you can start to peel back the conventions in a library or framework.

In short, this school program is geared towards those who are serious about getting a job with a time horizon of 12-14 months for the transformation.

Visit Website

Build Your First Laravel App

Build-Your-First-Laravel-App

This is a free 5-day video course with lessons that will teach you how to build your very own, first Laravel PHP web application, step by step. They will walk you through the process and show you how to code everything. There's no guesswork for you, and each lesson is short and easily-digestible.

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Bento

Bento

If you don't know where to start, Bento offers a free full stack web development curriculum created by top engineers. Deep dive into the tech you're passionate about. Bento found the best tutorials on over 200 different web technology topics. Share your own finds and tutorials on learning the newest technologies and see what other engineers are excited about.

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Code4Startup

Code4Startup

Leo Trieu designed and coded the Code4Startup platform with Ruby on Rails in 3 days only but it took him almost 2 and half months to create just 5 hours of video for his very first two educational courses ever, Zero and Ninja. Why? Because he is not a native English speaker and he had to practice and repeat hundreds of times. But he kept trying and never gave up. He bootstrapped this startup with a dream of educating millions people from around the world. Code4Startup is not just about learning how to code, it's also about inspiring people to create something meaningful, something they are excited about.

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CodeAvengers

CodeAvengers

Code Avengers offers classes for web designers, web developers and software engineers. At Code Avengers you learn by doing. Learn from step-by-step instructions combined with 1000s of code challenges, videos and quizzes with support from expert educators and an enthusiastic community of learners. You also build your portfolio. You'll start off learning to build simple apps and websites, but quickly progress to building real-world applications you can show-off to friends and future employers. Whether you want to land your dream job, start your own tech company, or build technology that changes the world, the Code Avengers team are dedicated to helping you get there faster.

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Codecademy

Codecademy

Codecademy is an education company. They're committed to building the best learning experience inside and out, making Codecademy the best place for their team to learn, teach, and create the online learning experience of the future. The company is rethinking education from the bottom up. The web has rethought nearly everything – commerce, social networking, healthcare, and more. They are building the education the world needs – the first truly net native education. They take more cues from Facebook and Zynga in creating an engaging educational experience than they do from the classroom.

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CodeCombat

CodeCombat

CodeCombat was created to give learners the feeling of wizardly power at their fingertips by using typed code. As it turns out, that enables them to learn faster too. It's like having a conversation instead of reading a manual. They want to bring that conversation to every school and to every student, because everyone should have the chance to learn the magic of programming.

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Codementor Learning Center

Codementor-Learning-Center

Codementor connects you with expert developers for live 1:1 help. At first you post your request. Get help for 800+ categories including JavaScript, Ruby, PHP, CSS/HTML, iOS, Android. Advanced topics include big data, machine learning, and more. Then you connect with a Codementor. Instantly connect with an online expert or schedule for a later time. Mentor's rate starts at $10 for a 15min session. Get 1:1 expert help. Work 1:1 with an expert mentor for debugging help, code review and pair programming via screen sharing, video, and text chat.

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Coder Camps Free HTML/CSS

Coder-Camps-Free-HTML-CSS

Since 2013, Coder Camps has been preparing students for successful, rewarding careers in the field of software engineering. Through accelerated and immersive courses led by expert instructors, their students become accustomed to thinking like a developer and adapting to the dynamics of working on an Agile software team. As technology continues to evolve at an increasingly rapid rate, students need more than a kick-start to a good job, they need a persistent career development partner. That's why Coder Camps graduates are encouraged to return as often as needed, free of charge, to refresh their knowledge, learn new technologies and find new opportunities. Their coding bootcamp centers on the needs of today's hard working software teams and hiring managers. From learning to code, creating a fully-functional web application, interview readiness training and so much more, their focus is preparing students to meet the demands of employers.

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iLoveCoding

iLoveCoding

iLoveCoding provides the simplest path to becoming a Front-End and Full-Stack Developer, they provide Video Based Training + Mentorship for their programs. They focus on Javascript Stack and its related technologies. Training is self-paced, and mentorship is available online via Student Area + Office Hours. iLoveCoding is a coding bootcamp alternative but better in value (cost), in effectiveness (they keep it real, vs hype or pushing things down your throat).

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Summary

I hope you will pick out the resource that will teach you all necessary skills to start developing your templates, websites, applications and making money on your passion. Have you already tried any of them? Do you have any additions to this list? Please share them as well as your success stories with us at the comments section. If you have any additional questions, please don't hesitate to reach out and ask.

More? Browse 35,000+ Courses on Udemy

From programming to photography, Udemy has it all! Check out their online courses.

Udemy Courses

Have any other free (or paid) online web development courses you recommend? Let us know!


Source: 10 Best Free Online Web Development Courses: Learn, Design, Earn!

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Design‘N’Buy announces integration of Odoo ERP with its web Web2Print Solution

Design'N'Buy now offers integration of its web2print with Odoo ERP, an open source ERP platform adopted by many businesses around the world.

Design'N'Buy has always capitalized on open source software to offer highly scalable and customized business solutions to printers and personalized product businesses, and integration with Odoo ERP is natural to its business model.

Integrating its web2print solution with Odoo ERP will now help online store owners to use one fully integrated centralized application to automate their business processes and avoid the hassles of dealing with multiple dis-integrated systems. With easy integration of web to print solution with Odoo helps in easy synchronization of products, categories, order status updates, customers, tax & payment status and a lot more.

Design'N'Buy, over the years has earned a reputation of offering customized web to print solution to its customers successfully and this integration is next feather in their cap.

For all the players in the print industry that are looking for a complete online business solution with ERP features and web to print, Design'N'Buy now has the most precise solution to offer. The integrated solution is more powerful and perfect for those who want to manage their multiple online stores and physical shops altogether. The open source solution allows you to unify your e-commerce print stores and other sales channels with ease with centralized access and management capabilities.

The integration comes with complete data sync with Odoo ERP, please find details

  • Bidirectional product, category and order status update sync
  • Customer and Real time order sync from our web to print to Odoo
  • Real time inventory sync of Magento configurable products as Odoo variants
  • Tax, Payment & Shipping Carrier Mapping
  • Compatible with Odoo POS, inventory will automatically sync at both end Magento and Odoo while order/delivery at Magento or POS
  • To know more about this new integration and the benefits of having a fully integrated ERP and w2p solution read more on https://www.designnbuy.com

    About Design'N'Buy –

    Design'N'Buy is a leading web to print solutions provider from India focused on delivering high quality, technically advanced web-to-print solutions that helps printers to develop a competitive advantage and grow their businesses. Today they have a gamut of web to print solutions targeted for garment decorators, commercial printers, print service providers as well as trade printers. Their solutions helps PSPs to setup multi-store B2B and B2C storefronts with integrated product personalization, print-ready order management, print workflow and MIS.  Since its inception in 2008, it has worked with 500+ clients in more than 40 countries around the world, with a dominant client base in the USA, UK, Netherlands, Germany and Australia.

    For more information:

    Make an Inquiry about this report HERE! Make an Inquiry about this news
    Source: Design'N'Buy announces integration of Odoo ERP with its web Web2Print Solution